EVE Online CSM Chairman Takes Aim at CCP

The Council of Stellar ManagementÂs (CSM) Chairman Alexander "The Mittani" Gianturco is not known for his reserved tone when it comes to EVE Online developer CCP. The Mittani, contributing writer of our Sins of a Solar Spymaster feature, will give credit where it is due, but when he sees a problem, The Mittani is certainly not afraid to approach it with both guns ready to fire.

In a recent blog post, The Mittani addressed some of the decisions made by CCP recently that The Mittani notes as having a negative impact on subscribers and literally Âno impactÂ on PCU (Peak Concurrent User). One of The MittaniÂs main complaints in the post is that CCP has neglected the ÂFlying in SpaceÂ portion of EVE game in favor of things such as the Incarna expansion, also referred to as ÂWalking in Stations.Â

The Mittani calls out CCP on neglect of core game.

Following IncarnaÂs release, the CSM was summoned to Iceland for an emergency summit following player backlash at the pricing of some of the gameÂs microtransaction items, most notably, the $70 monocles. The Mittani explains in the post how dealing with CCP works on the ÂmicroÂ and ÂmacroÂ level and how the CSM chairman views the success and failures of dealing with each.

There are two fronts to the political metagame of the CSM. On one front, that of micro-level gameplay, we have done very well with FiS negotiation, focusing the next expansion on 0.0 issues and communicating our views with absolute clarity. On the other front, dealing with macro-level business decisions and squaring off with CCP's upper management, our 'carrot' strategy has failed. We can get along peachy with Stoffer and fix FiS at the micro level. But at the macro level, Hilmar et al control the amount of resources that good people like Stoffer gets, and they seem to think their subscriber curve will go upward even if they spoonfeed us excrement.

The Mittani ends his post with a call to arms of sorts.

So the gloves come off. There's not much point for Goonswarm striving to 'fix EVE' by seizing control of the CSM and negotiating successfully with the FiS devs if the amount of resources allocated to FiS itself dwindles and the game continues to stagnate. In the coming weeks we are going to be making some extremely loud statements regarding the neglect of FiS, the failure of Incarna, and the need for CCP's management to pull the game out of this stall. We need something new to do, not something new to wear.

This will not take the form of an incoherent threadnaught (though that certainly got results, last time) but we may seize control of the internet's dynamic media - Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, and the gaming press as a whole for several news cycles.

We will not stand idly by as an alliance while our subscription money goes to waste, watching the game we pay to play spiraling into entropy due to the folly and neglect of CCP's management. It is not yet time to start a fire, but get your gasoline ready.